Hey This might get a little wordy but I want to try and paint the whole picture..

I am from west Tennessee and have been hunting ducks in east Arkansas and the Mississippi River since I could hold up a shotgun. I love it. And as yall can probably agree to, there aint much that's more fun than scouting and being right in the thick of the big numbers when you can almost catch em with a dip net. So you could believe how impressed I was when I saw all the waterfowl in Montana. My ex girlfriend is from a town in Flathead valley and every visit we made out there I saw a lot of birds. This, naturally, had me interested so I did some research online. As it turns out, it seems yall have A LOT of public hunting land across the state and yalls season is open almost a full 2 months earlier than ours.

I mentioned this to my two friends who also work with me. One is a long time buddy and fellow Tennessean I played grade school, high school, and college ball with but more importantly, we grew up hunting ducks together. The other is guy I meet 2 years ago working. He is from Texas and guides for his family company, WaterFowl Specialties (waterfowlspecialties.com). They both loved the idea of roughing it/camping and chasing ducks and geese around Montana for about a month.

Well this all took place 3 years ago but work (BP oil spill research) hasn't let us sneak away from the gulf coast for as long as we are wanting to. But the contract job is finally up so 2013 is our year.

With all that being said, I don't want yall thinking we are asking for any kind handouts or honey holes. We are trying to be as prepared as we can for the different terrain we might face in Montana that is different than we are accustomed at home. We are bringing a boat that is great for hunting rivers just in case we need it. It also doubles as something to haul our b.s. I'm not sure if I read it right, but it sounds like the Charles M. Russell wildlife refuge allows UTV's on certain roads. We have a four wheeler that fits in the bed of the truck but we aren't sure if we should bring it. We are going to start on east end of the state and work our way west mostly because we are coming from that way.

If yall had just one 3 week stretch to hunt waterfowl in MT during the whole season, when would yall pick? We have it narrowed it down to October or November mainly so we don't miss a beat with hunting down south. I know a lot of that depends on weather but we have to come up with some exact dates so we can tell work. October? November?

Any advice spared would be greatly appreciated. If anyone wants to hunt with us one morning, come on! The more the merrier. We could use a lil local help on the lay of the land I'm sure. We will have a boat, 4wheeler if need be, plenty of decoys (goose and duck), robo ducks, few layout blinds, Rosco the chocolate lab.

That sounds like an awesome adventure. As far as help I can't really help you much. I just moved her in May from PA. But I'm sure if you guys work hard you will have a good trip. You definitely want to put Freeze Out in your plans.

Thanks for the suggestions, fellas. I will let yall know what dates we come up with when we do so. Also, if anyone does want to take us or leads us to an area, we will certainly return the favor if you want to hunt some rice fields or flooded timber holes in Arkansas. Or in late season stretches when all that is froze up, we can take ya to some Mississippi River back sloughs.

For those dates I would pick the central part of the state or west depends if PMalher or PTroofer will take you to thier secret spot. In all truth those dates work great anywhere there is some open water

....its like taking x-lax when you have a bad cough. It wont clear up your lungs, but it sure stops you from coughing